CORVALLIS, Ore. — Engineers have created a new type of “stereo vision” to use in studying ocean waves as they pound against the shore, providing a better way to understand and monitor this violent, ever-changing environment.
The approach, whi…
The idea that even small asteroids can create hazardous tsunamis may at last be pretty well washed up. Small asteroids do not make great ocean waves that will devastate coastal areas for miles inland, according to both a recently released 1968 U.S. Naval Research report on explosion-generated tsunamis and terrestrial evidence. University of Arizona planetary scientist H. Jay Melosh is talking about it today at the 34th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in League City, Texas. His talk, “Impact-Generated Tsunamis: an Over-Rated Hazard,” is part of the session, “Poking Holes: Terrestrial Impacts.”
Scientists have finally been able to field-test theories about how wind transfers energy to ocean waves, a topic of debate since the 19th century that had previously proved impossible to settle experimentally. The new results may help lead the way to the resolution of a longstanding problem in scientists’ understanding of how energy and momentum are exchanged between the atmosphere and the oceans.